Basically this sounds not like actual technology, but a complaint that many folks have figured out ways to get around Microsoft's Marketing Technology (things like licenses, etc) that locks them into MS products.
I've had more people thank me profusely when I've handed them a copy of Open Office, just because they didn't have to shell out big bucks for the MS product. They didn't even know an alternative was available.
Some industry analysts have pencilled in 2005, but the company is not prepared to endorse that view. Also, following its recent commitment to delaying software releases until it has ironed out all the bugs â" a marked departure from the companyâ(TM)s earlier practice â" Microsoft seems more than prepared to wait.
It's probably even money that they'll bow to internal pressure to get something out, sort of like a WinME for XP or something, a stop gap to make people buy something.
Otherwise, all those people who paid extra to be in the guarenteed update program will be upset, because it will become obvious that they are not getting very much for their money.
At the rate things are going, it may be ahead of the curve for them to be planning for a Microsoft Planet just yet.
More and more people are not buying the upgrades for either Hardware or Software, because what they have is just good enough. This is driving manufacturers wacko. For word processing and basic home stuff, a few hundred megs of CPU speed is good enough. There is no compelling need. A lot of people are not doing the routine upgrade, and are getting off the treadmill.
Although their cash reserves gives them a decent shot.
It's like salesmen. Every time they start to make decent money, the rules are changed so they get paid less, and the company gets more.
Same thing for MS, sort of like a python. Whenever customers shift, MS will try to change to rules so they get more. Like any customer would say, "yes, we'll glasdly pay more for less"
"We've tapped into that 40 billion dollar cash reserve we have, and decided that spending a couple percent on QA testing might be a good marketing investment"
Looks like a lot of the attitude in senior Nasa management is CYA, very fractionalized, and subject to infighting. This inherently leads to less of a team spirit, and less of a commitment to the guys in the sky.
The right stuff and can-do attitude of the early days has been replaced by bureaucrats. Which, as you seen, can cost people their lives. As you can see here, shuttle rescues used to be part of the nasa planning process.
Of courser there is this question as well
The part they and other safety experts were most concerned about is a rushed launch of Atlantis, especially given the fact that it would have to fly with the known problem that foam debris from the external tank dealt a severe blow to Columbia's heat shield.
"What's to stop you from having the same damage to Atlantis? You're basically throwing the dice," Thagard said.
gfunk and guS are running around the office gleefully wetting their very nerdy highwater pants because we were slashdotted. For those of you who don't know, slashdot is like fark for smart people with big brains. It's been around forever and is the original Angry Demigod of Destroyed Servers. Personally, it confuses me so I stay the hell away.
For those of you visiting from Slashdot, here's a little info on how we handle big fat referrers. We do not just let every connection grab and suck as much bandwidth as it can. We limit the max number of FTP connection so that our bandwidth does not reduce to a trickle. So. It may take you a little while to establish a connection, but when you do, it should be nice and fast. Trust us. It's much better to do it this way. This all comes courtesy of the good folks over at o1 Communications.
Aristotle somplace is said to have defined democracy a government by and for (for lack of a proper term) a middle class - i.e. not the rich or the poor, but the folks who own something, some property.
As seen in this Scientific American article (among too many others) the cost per megabyte measured in dollars per megabye back in the early 1990s. which seems to be where SSDs are right about now. Presuming a similar price performance curve for the forseeable future, these things should be available and affordable in the mass market in the next decade or so.
We then reach the point where conventional storage is able to be completely absurd. We currently have over 100 times the capacity we had available about ten years ago for about the same price. Let's face it, it is hard to figure out what you would use a forty terabyte drive for, but I'm sure an OS and an animation based office suite will be developed by somebody that will make a valient stab at it.
so by that time SSDs will be far more affordable as well, and there will be a shift to this technology because of the cost. Note that a similar technology is seen in PDAs. Right now PDA's have the capacity and power of the old 486 machines. Imagine when they have the capacity of the current generation of desktops.
Desk Top machines will have a similar boost in power, but may go to SSD technology, simply because of the performance boost. and most people are not editing movies, etc at home.
One use of the incredible space that comes to mind is the software used to do the battle scenes in the Lord of the Rings. Imagine when this will become a desktop product. You could then create a movie usually methods similar to making a midi file. Events specified invoking effects generated by the computer, printed to video.
There is a recent press release on the stuff by Cinea and Sarnoff. The release on the Cinea website is inside an annoying sequence of pop-up windows, but Sarnoff has the joint press release here. not much more information, but useful.
With all of the effort that goes into writing cracks for things like Everquest, you would think that someone would be interested in finding a way in to cleverly promote things that make sense.
But the whole vetting thing they do would be a pain to get around. A really closed community.
I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I can't find this from any well known news source. I wanted to e-mail the link to my parents, but some fly-by-night internet site isn't much proof.
Here are some links, found by looking for the reporter's name
On February 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization. The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast.
What do mean, you are going to use an obsolete gaming system?
heathen
I recall a couple of games where we did the whole thing diceless. you had an equipment list, etc, but the ref described to effect (you are feeling rather tired, dizzy, or whatever) instead of saying "that's 5 points of damage"
reguires the game master to be impeccably fair, and good at describing the intermediate stages
For those of you without the tools necessary in the pictures above. A Road flare works wonders.
I would think that a couple of well placed off center drill holes, along with extended soaking in sea water and or other destructive chemicals would be also effective.
Dis-assembly and conversion to windchimes also is an interesting alternative. Hard drive discs make good raw material for a number of interesting projects.
Slashdot Mirror
I've had more people thank me profusely when I've handed them a copy of Open Office, just because they didn't have to shell out big bucks for the MS product. They didn't even know an alternative was available.
It's probably even money that they'll bow to internal pressure to get something out, sort of like a WinME for XP or something, a stop gap to make people buy something.
Otherwise, all those people who paid extra to be in the guarenteed update program will be upset, because it will become obvious that they are not getting very much for their money.
More and more people are not buying the upgrades for either Hardware or Software, because what they have is just good enough. This is driving manufacturers wacko. For word processing and basic home stuff, a few hundred megs of CPU speed is good enough. There is no compelling need. A lot of people are not doing the routine upgrade, and are getting off the treadmill.
Although their cash reserves gives them a decent shot.
It's like salesmen. Every time they start to make decent money, the rules are changed so they get paid less, and the company gets more.
Same thing for MS, sort of like a python. Whenever customers shift, MS will try to change to rules so they get more. Like any customer would say, "yes, we'll glasdly pay more for less"
One nominee that is amusing is to have the basic unit of distance based on the speed of light.
One light nanosecond = roughly 11.1 inches, kinda close to a foot.
I remember how Grace Hooper used to pass out wires that were that long, just to make the point.
Any other nominees?
"We've tapped into that 40 billion dollar cash reserve we have, and decided that spending a couple percent on QA testing might be a good marketing investment"
The right stuff and can-do attitude of the early days has been replaced by bureaucrats. Which, as you seen, can cost people their lives. As you can see here, shuttle rescues used to be part of the nasa planning process.
Of courser there is this question as well
"What's to stop you from having the same damage to Atlantis? You're basically throwing the dice," Thagard said.
Me Cynical? not a chance.
feh
That way there was no chance of not getting the result they were paid to get.
Bet that would make things get sorted out pretty quickly.
For those of you visiting from Slashdot, here's a little info on how we handle big fat referrers. We do not just let every connection grab and suck as much bandwidth as it can. We limit the max number of FTP connection so that our bandwidth does not reduce to a trickle. So. It may take you a little while to establish a connection, but when you do, it should be nice and fast. Trust us. It's much better to do it this way. This all comes courtesy of the good folks over at o1 Communications.
MIT is famous for their train club, which goes way back
Tech Model Railroad Club of MIT
Note that Steve Russel's development of the first video game is tied in with his time at TMRC. Note also many geek terms originated here (As seen in a dictionary derived from one originally written in 1959 by Pete Samson)
The real world engineering problems in running trains are also a good education
Looks like this has been changing recently.
As seen in this Scientific American article (among too many others) the cost per megabyte measured in dollars per megabye back in the early 1990s. which seems to be where SSDs are right about now. Presuming a similar price performance curve for the forseeable future, these things should be available and affordable in the mass market in the next decade or so.
We then reach the point where conventional storage is able to be completely absurd. We currently have over 100 times the capacity we had available about ten years ago for about the same price. Let's face it, it is hard to figure out what you would use a forty terabyte drive for, but I'm sure an OS and an animation based office suite will be developed by somebody that will make a valient stab at it.
so by that time SSDs will be far more affordable as well, and there will be a shift to this technology because of the cost. Note that a similar technology is seen in PDAs. Right now PDA's have the capacity and power of the old 486 machines. Imagine when they have the capacity of the current generation of desktops.
Desk Top machines will have a similar boost in power, but may go to SSD technology, simply because of the performance boost. and most people are not editing movies, etc at home.
One use of the incredible space that comes to mind is the software used to do the battle scenes in the Lord of the Rings. Imagine when this will become a desktop product. You could then create a movie usually methods similar to making a midi file. Events specified invoking effects generated by the computer, printed to video.
;-)
There is a recent press release on the stuff by Cinea and Sarnoff. The release on the Cinea website is inside an annoying sequence of pop-up windows, but Sarnoff has the joint press release here. not much more information, but useful.
With all of the effort that goes into writing cracks for things like Everquest, you would think that someone would be interested in finding a way in to cleverly promote things that make sense.
But the whole vetting thing they do would be a pain to get around. A really closed community.
same thing for those super market 'discount' cards
I mean, you trust your local politician, don't you?
The NYTimes article describes the protoype used as being very portable.
flash forward.
Can you imagine a protester using this to tell a politician what they think about the politician? or dozens of protesters.
Or aimed at Bill Gates at Comdex. or any other celebrity.
more subtly done, just a quiet voice wispering in the ear "you're evil" or something. Even with glass in between, the glass should resonate nicely.[?]
This will turn being a celeb into a living hell.
I can envision the havok teenage boys with these things could do.
too bad it's a cluster of 486's
:-P
Here are some links, found by looking for the reporter's name
-
Tallahassee Democrat
- Orlando Sentinal, (last item)
- PDF of the court Ruling
- Lawsuit Website, with a link to video report by TV station of their victory.
- Information clearing house
- Info on video network.com
have Fun!by way of example
-
On February 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization. The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast.
Not that I watch all that much TV or anything.this seems to work for me in Opera and IE, even though Mozilla is my prefered browser
heathen
I recall a couple of games where we did the whole thing diceless. you had an equipment list, etc, but the ref described to effect (you are feeling rather tired, dizzy, or whatever) instead of saying "that's 5 points of damage"
reguires the game master to be impeccably fair, and good at describing the intermediate stages
For some life is not fair if things don't go their way all of the time.
news at 11
A lot depends on the referee / game master.
sort of like how a joke can be messed up or great depending on who tells it.
I would think that a couple of well placed off center drill holes, along with extended soaking in sea water and or other destructive chemicals would be also effective.
Dis-assembly and conversion to windchimes also is an interesting alternative. Hard drive discs make good raw material for a number of interesting projects.